Double-acting check valve



March 5, 1946.

C.-DE K. BLISS DOUBLE-ACTING CHECK VALVE Filed June 29, 1945 I INVENTOR ('o/vR/m de/I Buss ATTORNEYS a fluid supply line and find Patented Mar. 5, 1946 p UNlTED STATES mam orrica DOUBLE-ACTING cnac'x vsLva Norwood, N. Llassignorto All"v Reduction Company, poration of New York 1s4s, serm No. 492,101;

f 2 Claims. (Cl.

Conrad de K. Bliss,

' I Application June 29.

This invention relates to improvements in double-acting check valves of the general type disclosed in the patent 2,183,709. Such valves are adapted to check excessive forward their principal use in the acetylene lines of oxyacetylene cutting and welding apparatus. v

It is important to stop all reverse flow in an acetylene line as a precaution against back flow of oxygen and acetylene from the torch toward the acetylene generator or cylinders and as a precaution against flashbacks. There area number of reasons for preventing excessive forward flow. Perhapsthe most important one is that if a hose breaks, or if most of theresistance to the forward flow of acetylene is removed through some other accident, the flow of gas should be immediately shut off to prevent an explosion or fire at the region where the gas is escaping. A few other reasons why it is desirable to prevent excessive forward floware the following: If the acetylene is being withdrawn from storage cylinders an excessive flow causes some of the acetone to be drawn of! with the gas and this, of course, is objectionable. If the acetylene is being supplied by a generator an excessive flow, if long continued, will result in'overheating or overloading of the generator. Moreover. an excessive rate of flow in one line will cause a presssilre drop in other lines.

Valves of the type disclosed in'the above-mentioned patent have a valve element openingin the direction of the gas flow and adapted to be closed by reverse flow of the gas, and another valve element opening against the gas flow and which is normally cpen to permit forward flow of the gas, but is adapted to close when the velocity of theforward flow becomes sufficient to move the valve. It is usually necessary to design a different valve for each condition of flow because the valve element which prevents excessive forward flow always closes at a predetermined gas velocity and no provision is made for causing it to close at a different gas velocity. Moreover, the valve element which prevents reverse flow is usually not sufflciently'sensitive and quick-acting to stop some of the flame from pass: ing back through the valve in the event of a flashback.

flow and all back flow through and it is therefore customary to place to G. M. Deming; No.

' inate the necessity for the interior of the Incorporated. a corbe made to close at different gas velocities. Moreover. the valve element whichprevents reverse flow is made so light and so sensitive in its operation that it will effectively checkflame propasation'in the event of a flashback and thus elimuslng the above-mentioned water seal. Certain other novel features areprovided as will hereinafter appear. 3

A double-acting check valve embodying the improvements is illustrated in the accompanying drawing. in which: Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the valve;

Fig.2 is a bottom plan view of thevalve shown in Fig. 1;

" Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section through the center of the valve shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 shows a portion of Fig. 2 drawn to an enlarged scale to illustrate the meansthat may be employed for locking and sealing the adjusting means for the valve element that prevents v excessive forward flow. v

I The valve comprises a housing'l' having an inlet 1 and an outlet '3. A partition 4 divides housing into two compartments-an inlet compartment land an outlet compartment 6. The partition 4 has an opening 1 into which a bushing I is adapted to be screwed.

the compartments I I with each other whenthe valve elements hereinafter ,describedare open. 1 I

, The upper end of the bushing 8 has a valve seat Ill for a valve element H which constitutes the check valve for preventing reverse flowof gasthrough the valve. This check valve has a metaldisc II against which a soft rubber face I! is clamped bymeansof aplate it and a screw it. ,The metal disc 12 may have a thickened portion ii to receive the end of the screw, as

best shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The marginal por-' tion of the soft rubber face ills adapted to con-a tact with the seat nostem' and this reduces itsweight.- It is guided a water seal on the torchlslde of the valve to prevents excessive forward flow so that it can screwed into the partition by pins I! inserted in the bushing and spaced apart. The upperend of each pin is bent inwardly as shown at It to overlie the disc I! of the valve element. The pins therefore constitute a cage-like structure within which the valve element-is guided and retained. The pins are bushing before the bushing is '4. It will be noted that all of the parts carried by the upper end of the bushing are such that they do not interfere with insertion of the busbins into the openinserted in the a central passage 9 which'places and I in communication- IU. The valve element II has 3 mo es-v into place. The bushing may be inserted in the housing I through an opening that is closed by a cover plate I! fastened to the housing by screws I 20. Although the cover plate is substantially circular there is a stud is carried by the housing or by the cover plate and adapted to lit in a hole in the other part to insure that the cover plate is always put on in the same position.

The valve element which prevents excessive forward flow. usually called a lock-up valve" is shown at 2i. It is made up oi a top casting 22, a rubber disc 23 and a bottom plate 24. The rubber disc is clamped between the casting I! and the plate 24 by means oi a nut II on a threaded stud 26 which passes through the plate 24 and is threaded into the casting 22.

On the casting 22 there are three vanes 21 adjustment is not usually changed unless the cylinder bank is increased or a generator oi greater capacity is provided or other generators are added. Therefore in order to prevent unauthorized adjustment or the lock-up valve it may be locked in adjusted position by means of a wire 34 (Fig. 4) which is passed through a holein one oi the studs 84 and wrapped several times around this stud, then passed circumierentially around 19 the knob in a groove 31 provided ior this purpose,

then wrapped several times around the projecting end or the pi /32 at the set position or the pin, then passed around the remainder of the circumierence oi the knob, and finally passed through a ll hole in the other stud l4 and wrapped several times around this stud. The ends oi the wire are embedded ina lead sealing disc 38. This makes it impossible to turn the knob and change the setting oi the lock-up valve without removing the spaced 120 apart. They have conflldel'flblc 80 seal or breaking the wire. However, the wire may length in the direction oi the longitudinal axis oi the bushing 8 and their outer edges bear against the inner cylindrical wall oi the bushing. The vanes therefore guide the lock-up valve I] and serve the function of a valve stem.

The lower end oi the stud 26 contacts with a spirally arranged cam surface 28 at the upper end I of a cam '25. A stem 30 at the lower end oi the cam extends through the cover plate It. ,A knob 31 is slipped over the end oi the stem 80 and is prevented from turning on the stem by a pin I2 which extends through an opening in the stem and through a slot or recess extending across the inner face of the knob. A cap nut 33 is screwed onto the end of the stem 30 and bears against the SI knob. The friction with which the cam 20 turns may be adjusted by turning the cap nut ll to press the knob 31 to a more or less degree against the outer surface or the cover plate II.

One end oi the pin 32 extendsbeyond the periphery of the knob 3| and is adapted to strike one or the other oi two studs 34 (Figs. 2 and 4) to limit the amount that the knob can be turned in either direction. The proiecting portion 01 the pin 32 also serves as a pointer and cooperates with a scale It on a thin plate I! secured to the outer face oi the cover plate is. The scale numbers represent diilcrent rates oi now 0! gas through the valve and may express the rate oi iiow in cubic ieet oi gas Per hour as shown in the drawing. or in any other suitable way.

The lock-up valve 2! is normally open as shown in the drawing and closes in the direction oi nor-l rnal gas ilow through the housing. When closed by excessive gas velocity its rubber disc 2! bears M against a seat 23' at the lower end or the bushing 8 stop the iorward gas ilow. The velocity oi gas llow necessary to move the lockut valve against the seat 23 depends among other things homily-o. he .h W l a e on w gr m t t lock up 1! lg thereiore closes quickly in response to the prescated when in open position. This is determined by the angular position oi the cam II. The positlon oi. the lock up valve is adjusted so that the valve will close at a predetermined gas velocity by turning the knob ll until the pin 83 points to the number on the scale corresponding to the rate oi new or the gas at which the lock-up valve should close. x This turns the cam is and the cam sur face 28 to change the position of the look-up valve until it is such a distance irom its seat that it will close when the rate oi now oi gas through the valve corresponds approximately to the number on the scale to which the pin has been turned. On any particular acetylene line the lock-um valve is adiusted to close at a given gas velocity and that be easily removed when authorized readjustment oi the valve is desired. One case where readjustment oi the valve may be necessary even though the capacity oi the acetylene source has not been I8 increased is where the lock-up valve is adjusted to close at a how slightly greater than the maximum demand on the particular line being served and other outlets are then added or the maximum de- "mand is otherwise increased. It may then be de- 80 sirabie to readjust the lock-up valve to close at a higher gas velocity to take care oi the increased demand.

To release the lock-up, i. e.. to restore the lockup valve to open position aitcr it closes, all outlets valve are closed. A plug is is then removed irom the housing and this permits access to a needle valve 40. The needle valve may be turned, as by means oi a screw driver, to open communication between the inlet and outlet compartments 5 and does not seat tightly enough to prevent pressure irom building up in the space between the two valve elements to the extent necessary to permit the lock-up valve to open.

50 It will now be seen that'sI double-actlng check valve having a ionic-up valve which may be ad: Justed to close at diiierent gas velocities as above described can be used at any one cl 0. number oi locations simply by adjusting the lock-up valve to suit the conditions at that location, and it is not necessary to design a diiierent valve ior every con dltlon oi i'iow.

Since. the back-now check valve II has no stem it is oi light weight and it is so designed that it is oi large area in proportion oi its weight. It

sure wave that precedes the name trout in the case or a flashback; The suriace that comes against the seat, being rubber, is soit and therciore the es valve does not bounce baolr when it hits the seat.

with previous test closing metal check valves llamas have sometimes been able to pass the valve because even it. it closes promptly in response to pressure wave it might bounce away from. the

.7 seat lust as the flame iront reaches the valve.

I! inate the nu oi the water seal usually employed at the downstream side oi the double-acting check to prevent the names from reaching the hack-flow check valve.

I claim:

1. A valve comprising a housing having a gas inlet and outlet. a passage within the housing through which gas entering said inlet must now upwardly to reach said outlet, a normally open adapted to close said passage, -a

v valve seat with which the valve element cooperates, said valve element being arranged to close in the direction of normal gas now through said passage and adapted to he closed by the flow of gas when it exceeds a predetermined velocity, and means for adjusting the distance of said valve element from its seat to vary the gas velocity at which the valve element will close. said means comprising a cam within said housing which is rotatable about an axis disposed in the same direction as that in which said valve element moves and has a arran ed cam surface engaging a part on said valve element. and means outside of said housin for adiustlnl theeam.

2. A valve comprising a housing having a gas inlet and outlet. a passage within the housing through which gas entering said inlet must i'low upwardly to reach said outlet, a normally open valve element adapted to close said passage. a

valve seat with which the valve element cooperates, said valve element being arranged to close in the direction of normal gas now through said pas sage and adapted to he closed by the flow oi as when it exceeds a predetermined velocity. and

some.

CONRADMKBIJSS. 

